by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

by Michael Winter, USA TODAY

Andrew Jacob Cervantez may not be the biggest baby ever born, though he may be the biggest in California history. Regardless, by any measure he is a bruiser - 15 pounds, 2 ounces.

"They had to double check, because I didn't believe them. I thought the machine was broken," his 5-foot-1 mother, Vanessa, of the Mojave Desert city of Hesperia, told the Victorville Daily Press. "None of the doctors have ever delivered or heard of a baby being born that big here."

Andrew, who measured 2 feet long, was delivered by emergency C-section Thursday at Desert Valley Hospital in San Bernardino County after a routine test showed decreased movement. He was 38 weeks along and having trouble breathing on his own, so he was airlifted to the neonatal intensive care unit at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital. He was still there Monday.

Big apparently runs in the family. The 28-year-old mom was already a veteran of big deliveries: her first son weighed in at 10 pounds, 10 ounces, while her daughter came into the world at 9 pounds, 14 ounces.

At the moment, not-so-little Andrew is the reigning king of U.S. newborns. Last year, the nation's largest was a Utah baby who weighed 14 pounds.

The all-time world champion? A 23-pound, 12-ounce Canadian born in 1879, Guinness World Records claims.